About Pelting Out

Family. Farming. Fashion. Philosophical differences. Fur.

I love origin stories. My own in
this telling began with the unceremonious arrival in Boston of my Scandinavian
ancestors in the early 1880s. Thanks to the Homestead Act and through decades
of work, these hard-working folks caught an especially unique wave that rolled
and crashed and eventually evolved into a small but significant piece of the
modern fur industry. Over time, the animals raised by the generations before me
changed, activists in opposition fashioned a movement that shattered
long-standing images, and, eventually, the world formed an impression of this
industry that in few ways reflects what I knew of it while growing up.

Two years ago, I embarked upon an
extensive search for what I might learn about the full range of this industry. Pelting
Out: Finding Fur In Our History and Culture brings readers on a funny,
narrative-driven, Garrison Keillor-meets-Eric Schlosser mash-up journey. Along the way, I unveil a world some
might think had long ago disappeared. My pursuits in this “investigative
memoir” continue with a open-minded passion. To do so, I continue to draw upon
what I learn from the animals, the ranchers, the activists, the scientists, the
designers and manufacturers, the merchants, the
politicians, the consumers and a (still growing) list of others. Trust me, it’s
all in there.

Me. Summer of 1976. Ogema, WI

(Grandfather) Harry Magnuson. (Approximately)
1976. Ogema, WI

Family. (Approximately) 1975. Ogema, WI

Woodbury County Courthouse Building - an excellent example of the Prairie School of Architecture. Sioux City, IA